Several cars were damaged when a fire broke out in a garage near Aman Motors in Arupota near Dhapa, off EM Bypass, on Saturday morning.

It took three fire tenders nearly two hours to bring the flames under control. Police said no one was injured.

Around 11am, some bystanders near the garage spotted flames leaping out of the garage packed with cars. They alerted the fire services department and Pragati Maidan police station.

Some of them rushed to arrange for water.

Dotted with shanties and marked by narrow lanes, Arupota has several makeshift garages where cars are repaired almost throughout the day.

When the fire broke out in one of them, the flames leapt up and spread to a few cars inside the garage. By the time fire tenders began firefighting operations, the vehicles were heavily damaged, eyewitnesses said.

“While firefighting, we had to ensure the fire didn’t spread to shanties adjoining the garage,” a senior official of the fire and emergency services department said.

“Since the garage was filled with inflammable articles, including lubricants and oil, it took some time to control the fire.”

The police said they barricaded the area to ensure fire tenders could reach close to the seat of fire without any hindrance.

“The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Without timely intervention, it could have spread fast and it would have been difficult to manage,” said a senior officer of Pragati Maidan police station.

Eyewitnesses said close to half a dozen cars were gutted in the fire and the makeshift garage structure of bamboos was also destroyed.

Those who were inside the garage had managed to run out when the fire struck and managed to save themselves from getting charred, the eyewitnesses said.